November 20, 2001 - Gamers have always wanted to go half-naked into the jungles and mingle happily with apes and monkeys. Publisher Ubi Soft knows their desires all too well -- sick as they may be, and it's with this in mind that it has developed Tarzan Untamed, a 3D action-platformer based on the Disney Tarzan feature film. The game follows an all-new storyline, features a variety of different play modes and proudly boasts a superbly produced cartoon style similar to the movie. But in the end it's a title that's nearly as simple as the ape-man himself, and it's primarily for this reason that it comes recommended as a rental to most.

Features

• Inspired by the surfing elements found in the recent animated classic
• Featuring the return of characters Tarzan, Jane, Terk and many others
• Experience the rush of jungle-based extreme sports ranging from bungee jumping to tree surfing
• Lush 3D environments that mock the movie visuals
• Collect rare items as you explore the vast 3D worlds
• Perform frontside rodeos, backflips, spins and more extreme tricks
• Features quicker load times over PS2 version
• Runs at improved fluidity -- 60 frames per second
• Features enhanced textures

Gameplay
The story of Tarzan Untamed picks up shortly after the film left off. The primate hero has somehow convinced his girlfriend Jane and her father Professor Porter to stay with him in the jungle so that he can remain the protector to the gorillas that raised him. But sooner or later a scientist named Oswald Gardner shows up on the island and, with his henchmen, begins to trap and capture Tarzan's ape family and friends. It's up to players to free the character's monkey buddies and restore order to the jungle.

Tarzan Untamed is a 3D action-platformer on rails -- or, in other words, while it's fully polygonal, it follows a set path, and sometimes branching paths. Tarzan makes his way through immense, detailed jungle and cave-like areas, does battle with the occasional enemy, swings across vines, surfs tree branches, slides through the insides of trees, bounces off of spring-plants, chucks spears and more.

The character is manipulated with the analog stick or D-Pad, A jumps, B wrestles and picks up spears, Y throws them and X is used for yelling. It's a very simplistic setup that gamers will have no problems adapting to with little practice. However, moving Tarzan forward and around the land environments is sometimes frustrating as the character is very sticky; sometimes when he walks he slows down for no apparent reason as if caught on something or stuck in mud. It's not a flaw that can't be played past, but it's annoying and given that Ubi Soft has attempted to mimic the fast-action cartoon this certainly breaks from the feel of the movie, and for that matter the rest of the game. On the other hand, when Tarzan isn't walking, but surfing or swinging, the sense of speed and motion unravels flawlessly and feels quite on par with the animated movie.

There are branching paths the primate can investigate in these exploration stages. Most lead to secret film reels, which must be collected along the adventure to unlock new levels and eventually reveal a hidden movie for all to enjoy. Ubi Soft has also extended the length of the decidedly short title by locking some of the paths until Tarzan has beaten some of the side challenges that unlock new abilities. It's a nice touch, but it follows a very popularized find-and-collect videogame formula that may wear thin on seasoned players.

Luckily the title features other modes of play. There are levels in which Tarzan must surf down roaring rapids whilst dodging rocks and enemies. There are stages centered on skiing through vine-filled lakes while avoiding rocks and other hazards. There are bungie jump locations in which the hero must plunge himself through the air and down into a lake below. And truth be told, these stages -- all of them -- are more intuitive and cleverly designed than the standard exploration lot, which makes one wonder why Ubi Soft didn't simply focus primarily on them.

Certainly we've got our complaints with Tarzan Untamed's various gameplay mechanics and modes. But in the end we'd be liars if we said we didn't have fun with it in some simple fashion. It's just, quite frankly, with a quickly learned control setup and a repeating stream of the same levels and different textures, an experience that is more suited to younger players than it is to hardcore gamers. No multiplayer modes and an overall quickly bested main adventure also make it a perfect rental.

Graphics
Ubi Soft has got some great artists. That's a fact that cannot be denied. Whether its Rayman or Batman, the developer's games always have a certain flair to them that is unsurpassed. Tarzan Untamed is no different. The game closely recreates the look of the feature film and does quite a strong job of it. Tarzan looks as he does in the cartoon and for the most part his animation is up to snuff too. He loosely swings from vines, wobbles and skis over water, and even sways back and forth with foes as he fights. The game's polygonal surroundings are beautiful too. Huge vines that stretch in every direction, cartoon-ized water with impressive reflections and an overall decent, but not exceptional texture quality come together for a very welcomed visual presentation that's very reminiscent of the film. There are certain areas in the game -- rare for sure, that are too dark, which makes it difficult for players to successfully navigate without first dying. Not a major problem, but noteworthy all the same. Also, though we haven't witnessed for ourselves, Ubi Soft claims that the GameCube version of Tarzan runs with a better framerate -- 60 -- than it does on PlayStation 2.

Sound
The audio portion of Tarzan Untamed is adequate. It does its best to realize the aural experience of the movie, but falls short in some key areas. Levels feature well-composed scores from the movie (and thankfully no Phil Collins), as well as an acceptable selection of jungle noises -- from birds chirping to cats growling. Tarzan can yell quite loud and with force, some characters offer humorous speech, monkeys make funny monkey noises, but it's also all very generic in the end. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary or ambient. It gets the job done.